Durban - An Eastern Cape woman has told how she stabbed a man to death and wounded two others‚ when she allegedly found them gang-raping her 27-year-old daughter last weekend.

The 55-year-old woman from Komani, near Lady Frere does not regret what she did “to save her daughter”. She may not be named to protect her daughter’s identity.

The woman said she stabbed these men because she was worried what could have happened to her daughter. “Who knows? Maybe she could have been killed after the rape ordeal," she told ILISOLEZWE.

One of the men, Mncedisi Vuba, 27, died while two brothers Xolisa Siyeka and Mncedisi Vuba from Qumbu Location in Zwartwater survived and are still in hospital. It is believed they will be discharged soon.

The woman was arrested and appeared before the Komani Magistrate’s Court on Monday where she was released on R500 bail. She will appear again on October 8.

This week she described her ideal on radio.

“I received a call from my mother saying to two girls had come to tell her that my daughter was being raped by three men,” the mother told SAfm Midday live this week.

“I called the local police forum but could not get through. I then left my house with a knife because it was late at night.” It was after 1am.

She then approached a local community leader who would accompany her with a group of young men to the house where they believed her daughter was.
The woman then told SAfm that as they got closer the community leader slacked behind saying he was buying air time. Then the young woman who had made the call joined her. “She lives close to the house and alerted me that the globes had been removed and the house was dark,” she said.

“About 100m from the house I could hear my daughter crying. I went in and saw them on the bed. The deceased was facing my daughter, the other was behind my daughter. The other was kneeling over my daughter.

“I came in my, phone flashlight on, and I asked: ‘What are you doing?’ They didn’t respond. But instead they stood up and came towards me,” she said.
“The first came running in my direction. I was frightened and I moved out of the way and while pulling my knife out I stabbed him. The second one I struggled with. I fell to the ground on my knees, but by God’s grace, he tripped over a chair and fell, and I stabbed him too.

She told SAfm that the third man had seen what was happening and tried to escape through a window. “I chased him into another room and stabbed him too. He fell on his face.” she said.

She left the house and by then the community leader had arrived. “I told him to call the police for me and an ambulance for the young men. My work here was done,” she said.

She noted with sadness that the man she had killed was the same age as her daughter - 27.

The United Democratic Movement’s Women's Organisation has stood by the woman.

“We believe her life, together with her daughter, was under threat. Any mother would have done the same if they found themselves in this kind of situation.

"We do not condone the actions of the community taking the law into their hands but knowing that women are under siege, if she did not defend herself, she could have been the one killed by the perpetrators," said general-secretary Thandi Nontenja.